Light
by ArcadianKnight
Summary: The semblance of the Arcs has been passed down for generations, each Arc providing a connection to the next. Now it's Jaune's turn to inherit the light of those that came before him. [Arkos]
1. Rise

Light

* * *

The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the warehouse. Jaune panted heavily as he fought off his assailants. He blocked a slash coming towards him with his shield and pushed off, knocking the combatant off balance. Jaune quickly swung his sword at his opponent's legs and knocked him to the ground. He bashed him with his shield to make sure he was knocked out just before the other attacker hit him in the back with his sword.

Jaune's aura protected him from any serious harm but the wind was knocked right out of him. 'Geez, that's gonna sting in the morning' he thought and rolled out of the way of another strike. The assailant ran at him and swung his sword from over his head. Jaune bashed him with his shield, disorientating him. He took this opportunity to deliver a swift roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him out.

He was getting better at fighting, thanks to the work he'd been putting in with Pyrrha these past few months. Though, to him, it seemed like he had a lot of ground to cover before he could even hope to be on par with any of his friends. But, he knew he could hold his own in a fight now. He was no longer his old self where he would be hiding behind his friends in battle, no now… now he could really help people and make a difference. ,

"Hey I'm done on my end," he pushed the button on his ear piece.

"Great, that makes everyone, let's regroup before we go any further," he heard Ruby's voice.

Team RWBY had found a lead on where upper ranked White Fang members might be holding their meetings. So naturally, Jaune wanted to have his team accompany them. Due to his persistent and caring nature, the sister team finally caved in to his demands and allowed them in on the mission.

It was unofficial of course, however Ozpin provided them an alibi by sending them on a simple joint 'patrol' mission to help with their synergy. 'He's probably the coolest teacher on the planet' Jaune internally laughed.

He started walking towards the centre of the warehouse. They had agreed upon a location to regroup prior to arriving. They had acquired the blueprints to the warehouse through Beacon's archives. They proved to be very useful as Jaune's tactical mind began hacking away at the documents. He had quickly formulated plans for entry, re-entry and even plans for going from room to room as he thought that they would be heavily guarded. He was right.

He saw the clearing that marked the centre of the warehouse, everyone else had already arrived. "Those are some pretty tough grunts," he said as he walked up to them.

"Those weren't grunts Jaune," Pyrrha said. "They had officer's uniforms."

"Oh… well I guess I didn't notice." He scratched the back of his head.

"It just means you're getting better, all that training is paying off," Pyrrha offered him a smile.

"Oh I'm sure it is… I hear you guys 'training' all the time," Yang said. "Oh Jaune, let me show you how to hold your 'sword'." She wiggled her eyebrows and emphasized the word 'sword'.

"Wha-Th-We we-weren't doing what you thought we were." Pyrrha's face was redder than her hair. Jaune too was affected by Yang's words, however nowhere near as much Pyrrha.

He was no longer oblivious to Pyrrha's feelings, nor to his own. He had first ignored his mixed feelings for her, thinking it was merely admiration, and nothing romantic. But after the dance, when she half-confessed to him, after he wore a dress to keep her happy, he knew that it wasn't mere admiration that attracted him to her; it was more.

"Eww gross," Ruby said and covered her ears. As a 15 year old, her mind wasn't fully opened to the world of sexuality. Sure she found people attractive, but it was limited to only that. "Let's just get going, we can't waste time."

"You remember the plan right?" Jaune asked her.

"Yup, we'll sneak through the air vents and try to take any documents or info that'll help us uncover what the White Fang are after. You'll blow up the main entrance and serve as a distraction until we're finished on our end. Then we regroup and lay the smackdown on the bad guys!" She emphasized her last sentence with a fist pump.

"Alright, seems good, you guys go get ready, give us the signal when you're ready."

"Alright Jaune, good luck." Ruby nodded and left with the rest of her team.

Jaune returned the gesture. "Good hunting." He lead his team to the main entrance where there was a metal door separating them from the rest of the facility.

After about 5 minutes Ruby's voice reached him. "Alright, we're in position."

"Nora, blow that door up, and break as many legs you can!" Jaune yelled.

She grinned and turned Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and started firing away at the door. Pretty soon, alarms started going off as she finally broke through. Grunts began filing in through the door and team JNPR made quick work of them with their firearms, Jaune served as a spotter. Soon after, the frequency of the White Fang grunts became less and less until there were none coming through.

"Aww, is that it?" Nora sounded disappointed.

But she spoke too soon, as a fireball flew through the doors and headed towards them. They managed to dodge it. Three figures walked out, each of them wearing a grimm mask, however, they seemed strikingly familiar. Two of them were girls, one had wavy black hair and a red dress. The other was a mix between pink and brown who, strangely enough, carried an umbrella. The male was about Jaune's height who donned silver hair and a big pair of boots. However, they couldn't make out any of their facial features.

Jaune felt more on edge when he focused on the girl with black hair. There was just something about her that spoke danger. There was no way he could do anything to her with the way he was, he'd need to send in both Nora and Ren to keep her occupied. There was something strange about the other girl as well, she had a smaller frame which would mean she'd be more agile. Pyrrha would be more suited for her.

"Nora, Ren, you take on the girl with the red dress, I'll get the guy. Pyrrha, you take the girl with the umbrella." They all nodded and went after their respective opponents.

Nora and Ren quickly went on the offensive, doing combinations of attacks that could only be accomplished with years of working together. However, the girl was unfazed and dodged all the attacks with matching speed. The markings on her dress began to glow as she brought out her weapon; two swords.

When he looked to see how Pyrrha was doing against her opponent, he was shocked to see that the other girl was holding her own just fine and was even giving Pyrrha a hard time. Not even anyone on team RWBY could beat Pyrrha one on one. What were these guys?

He gulped as he turned to his opponent. 'Alright calm down, just remember the stances Pyrrha taught you and try and hold out as long as you can until backup arrives,' he thought. He drew his sword and shield as his opponent crouched down into a fighting stance.

'Judging by those boots, he mainly uses his feet when fighting.' Plans began swarming through his mind. The key to even holding out against this guy was to target his legs. He took a deep breath as he held out his shield in front of him. He decided to go on the defensive so he could assess how his opponent would be fighting.

He saw the man smirk as he charged forward and spun to kick him in the side. Jaune barely had enough time to react as he moved his shield to block it. But that left his front vulnerable which was taken advantage of by the man and Jaune received a kick into his abdomen. Jaune reeled as the air was knocked out of his lungs. A kick was sent to his head and he was knocked down onto the ground. He barely had enough time to roll over and move out of the way of oncoming kicks.

His head was swirling from the kick, his eyes were constantly focusing in and out. He tried to keep his head still to balance out his equilibrium, but the attacker was relentless. He rushed in, kicking Jaune in the ribcage and kneeing him in the face when he recoiled.

"You're a lot weaker than your teammates." The attacker mocked him.

Jaune looked to see how the rest of his team was doing, and he saw that they were holding their own. His words stung as Jaune realized he was still too weak to make a difference. Before Jaune could ready himself again, he received a swift kick across his jaw, knocking him down and disorienting him.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha saw him get knocked down and was momentarily distracted in her fight.

Pyrrha's attacker caught her off guard and landed a hit at her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She quickly followed the kick with an elbow behind her neck, knocking Pyrrha down for good. For as long as she could remember, this was the first time she lost a fight one on one.

Pyrrha's attacker unsheathed her umbrella to reveal a blade.

Jaune couldn't do anything as he tried to force himself up. His aura was depleted and he didn't have enough energy to move, besides the hand he reached out for her.

"Pyrrha…" he said, his voice was weak. He watched as the girl with the umbrella walked up to Pyrrha.

This was supposed to be a simple mission. Get in, grab the files while they're distracted, and then get out. 'This is all my fault… if I wasn't so weak, none of this would be happening right now.' Jaune thought as he watched the girl approach Pyrrha, either of them unable to do anything. 'Grow Sronger…' There was a voice in his head.

The girl lifted her sword up in the air, before bringing it down, running it through Pyrrha. A sickening gasp broke through Pyrrha's lips, as she began breathing in quick shallow breaths, her life force pooling around her.

Jaune could only watch, mouth agape as he tried – but failed – to reach out for her. He began desperately crawling towards her, forgetting about the person behind him.

His attacker began laughing, and couldn't help but speak out his opinion on how funny this looked. Jaune didn't care though, he needed to get to Pyrrha.

He slowly but surely crawled towards her, not even paying attention to the umbrella girl as he managed to grab a hold of Pyrrha. He grabbed her face and turned it towards him. Her eyes had glazed over, and were losing their colour. No longer the bright green orbs they used to be, they were now almost grey.

"Pyrrha, come on, stay awake.' Jaune tried to keep her conscious. She only looked at him with a weak smile. "It's pretty hard to right now, Jaune." She smiled at him. Her eyes began to close.

Jaune noticed the blood, there was a large puddle of it. "No no, Pyrrha stay awake, that's an order!" Jaune began panicking, using what little energy he had left to press his hand against her wound.

'Gain Power…' There was that voice again. 'Become immortal, and rule them all.'

Pyrrha's eyes fully closed.

Jaune's mind went blank as he was witnessing the final moments of his partner.

'For it is in passing that we achieve immortality.'

Jaune pressed his mouth against Pyrrha, blowing air into her lungs, trying anything to keep her alive.

'Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rule above all'

Tears flowed down his cheeks as he tried anything to get his partner to wake up.

'Infinite in distance and unbound by death.'

Memories of Pyrrha flooded his mind.

'We release thy soul, and thy semblance'

'And by our shoulder, protect thee'

…

'Rise, Jaune Arc, future king of kings, and fulfil thy destiny.'

* * *

Ruby and her team had just finished up gathering all the intel they could find. "All right team, let's head back and help Jaune!" she said.

A huge gust of wind blew through the entrance to the room and knocked them all back. "What was that!?" Yang said as she got up.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Weiss also stood up and brushed herself off.

"Come on let's hurry, they're probably in trouble," Ruby said. They readied their weapons and rushed out of the room back towards team JNPR.

When they got there, they had to cover their eyes as the light in the warehouse was blinding. It was almost like the sun was in the warehouse. They managed to see Nora and Ren standing a few metres away.

"Nora, Ren, what's going on!?" Ruby asked.

"Jaune… he's…" Nora was still staring off towards the centre of the warehouse. She couldn't believe her eyes. Was that actually her fearless leader?

Ruby ran towards the centre of the warehouse, wanting to see what was wrong with Jaune. When she got there she couldn't believe her eyes. There, standing in the centre was Jaune.

Jaune stood and stared down all 3 of the attackers with glowing blue eyes. Light of every wavelength, every colour was emanating from him in pulses. He was standing in a pillar of pure white light, looking menacingly at the attackers.

He brought his attention down to Pyrrha, who had passed out. " **It is not yet your time,** " he spoke. However his voice sounded like there were others speaking as well. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.

Slowly she began glowing, her aura becoming stronger and stronger, her wound healing, and her breathing becoming less laboured. He separated from his partner, and once again, turned his full attention to the attackers.

" **We shall punish those who obstruct peace!"**

Jaune – almost instantaneously – appeared in front of the girl with the umbrella. Before she had time to react, he struck her with Crocea Mors, the blade glowing a brilliant white. She went flying and crashed into the wall, shattering it. He immediately turned and kicked the other male, sending him flying through several freight containers. He readied his blade, looking to pierce the girl in red.

"Jaune!" Weiss yelled out. The rest of Ruby's team caught up with her and couldn't believe their eyes. The weakest student in the school, had something like this hidden inside of him?

Jaune appeared in front of Weiss, still sending off pulses of rainbow light. He stood, his eyes glowing blue, staring at her, as if judging her. She knew that if she tried anything she would most likely end up just like those people there, so she stood still.

He visibly relaxed and the light pulsing from his body slowly dissipated, his eyes returning back to normal. His eyes closed and he passed out, falling forward. "I got you." Weiss caught him before he fell.

She and Jaune have been on good terms ever since the dance. She talked to him after the dance, wanting to thank him for convincing Neptune to talk to her. But she was shocked when he talked first, and apologized none the less. As heartless as people think she may be, she forgave him, and let bygones be bygones. They agreed to start anew, and became friends. Heck, he even came to her for advice on his feelings for Pyrrha.

She carried him over to Pyrrha and rest him beside her. The attackers decided to make a timely exit after they realized they were outnumbered and out gunned. It was just them now.

"Uhh… what was that?" Ruby was the first to break the silence.

"It seems that there's more to him than we first thought." Blake said, still a little awestruck at what had just happened. "I mean, we all know that he's not the best fighter around. Yet Ozpin still let him into the academy, and I think we now know why."

They all stood in silence as Ruby sent a signal from her scroll requesting pickup with medical personnel. Ren did what he could to apply first aid to Pyrrha and bandage her wound. The medical team would take care of the rest.

Their ride arrived with a medical team on board. Both the teams got on and the medics immediately began checking the vitals of both the unconscious members. Yang sighed and closed her eyes. It was going to be a long ride home.

* * *

"Where am I…?" Jaune looked around, everything was made of beautiful colours.

"Welcome, young King. We have been expecting you," a man in a suit of white armour appeared in front of him.

"Who are you…?"

"My name… is Julius 'Caesar' Arc."


	2. Awakening

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long delay for the next chapter. I've been swamped with work so I didn't have time to write it. Anyways, if you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a review, constructive criticism is more than welcome :).**

Light – Chapter 2

"You mean 'the' Julius Arc?" Jaune asked. He was baffled.

"The one and only," He smiled. Jaune couldn't believe his eyes. Standing before him, was the great hero who helped create a nation the likes of which had never even been dreamed of. He'd be lying if he said he didn't look intimidating. Julius stood a full foot over Jaune and was decked in armour, making Jaune look tiny.

"What…? How is this possible?" Jaune was confused.

"This is your mind, Jaune. Everything here is a part of you, including me… and all of the Arcs before you." Faces of people he'd never seen before began appearing all around him. There were so many, it all seemed surreal. He saw many different faces but each Arc had the same eyes, and the same hair; the defining characteristic of the Arc family. It finally ended when the face of the most recently deceased arc flashed in front of him; his grandfather.

"Why is this happening? What do you want from me?" Jaune took a step back. This was all too much to take in at once.

"It's happening right now, because your semblance was awoken. Your connection with us grew stronger until it became complete. It's a wonder it took this long to unlock, but given how you didn't unlock your aura until recently, I can understand why it took so long." Julius said.

"What…? What semblance?"

"Why yours, of course. And all of ours. This semblance is one of a kind, like all are, but this one is special. You're probably wondering what it is?" Jaune nodded. "To put it briefly, this semblance was the result of the first use of aura by mankind. The first person to ever use aura, was the first of our ancestors; Primum Arc. The aura in his body manifested in a unique way and became the basis for all future aura users. His semblance, was the only one that could be passed down to his offspring, and their offspring after that. It's hereditary." Jaune tried his best to take in as much as he could.

"So wait, what exactly is my semblance?" Jaune was curious. If it could be passed down, did that mean his dad had it as well? He never saw him use anything like aura before.

"Patience Jaune." Julius chuckled. "Your semblance provides a link to all the arcs that have come before you, allowing you to draw from our energy. The semblance itself is a manifestation of light, allowing your body to draw energy from it, and take on its properties."

"Wow, that's badass! What else can it do?" Jaune was excited.

Julius gave out a hearty laugh. "That is for you to learn for yourself. Your semblance is a part of you, and it will grow just as you do; with time. Gain knowledge and experience, and you will grow stronger than you or we could ever imagine. The only way to know how strong, is to keep testing your limits."

His face darkened. "However, Jaune you have to promise us something." Jaune nodded.

"Only use your semblance in a fight if you or those you are trying to protect are in immediate danger. You must never use it for personal gain. It's a semblance meant for creation, not destruction. Train with it, and use it as a tool for discovering yourself." He looked at Jaune. "We have sensed for a while now, that there will be great conflict within your world. It's your duty, as an Arc, to protect and uphold peace."

Jaune's eyes went downcast. "Then why me? I'm no good at fighting, I can barely even protect myself, so how am I supposed to protect the world? There's probably a million people out there better trained than me."

Julius guffawed. "You're probably right." Jaune's eyes became more downcast. Julius put his hands on Jaune's shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "But it's not about fighting Jaune. Anyone can learn to fight…" Jaune looked up at him. "But no one has a heart as pure and determined as yours, and that's worth more than any kind of training anyone can ever receive. Believe in yourself and you will accomplish wonders."

Jaune smiled and nodded, taking his words to heart. He was right. If Jaune wanted to improve then he had to believe in himself.

"Now wake up, you have people waiting for you in your world. Remember these lessons and remember them well." Julius faded away and everything turned black.

The last thing Jaune heard was Julius saying, "Remember, you're never alone."

* * *

Jaune slowly opened his eyes. He winced in pain, as his eyes adjusted to the bright light in the room. His head was throbbing in pain. 'Damn, this is worse than the aftermath of my training sessions with Pyrrha…' he thought about his partner.

Adrenaline shot through his body. 'Shit! Pyrrha!' He shot up out of bed, and looked at his surroundings. He was in a white room, he recognized the walls. It was Beacon's infirmary. There was IVs connected to his arm. He took them out.

He looked around some more. 'No sign of a doctor or nurse…' he thought. 'I can probably sneak out and find Pyrrha.' He quickly got out of bed and ran out of his room, ignoring the increasing pain in his head. He could take some medicine for it later, right now he had to find Pyrrha and make sure she was okay.

He turned the corner and ran down the hallway. He saw someone walking down the hallway towards him. He sped up when he noticed the person had red hair. He quickly ran up to the person and relief washed over him. He found her.

When the two reached each other, they did nothing but stare for a while. Jaune finally broke the silence. "Good, you're safe…" Exhaustion took over his body and he began to fall forward. Luckily for him, she caught him before he hit the ground.

He passed out in Pyrrha's arms.

Jaune opened his eyes for the second time that day. He looked up to his partner at his bedside. She looked surprised when she saw him move. To him she looked… anxious? Jaune had never seen Pyrrha this riled up before. It was clear she was worrying about him.

He sat up in the bed. "Yo," he said. He was still exhausted for some reason and his voice came out a lot weaker than anticipated.

To his surprise, Pyrrha brought him into a really tight hug. "Pyrrha?" he asked. He heard her mumble something in his chest. "What was that?"

"I was scared you were never going to wake up!" She said louder. Pyrrha was shaking. He tried to calm her down by gently rubbing soothing circles into her back. He'd never seen her this… vulnerable before. It was offputting.

"What? What do you mean? How long have I been out?" It seemed like he was in that world for only a few minutes.

She leaned back and looked at him. "Jaune… you've been unconscious for a week." His mouth went agape.

"A whole week!? It only felt like I was in there for a few minutes, 10 at most!" How could he possibly have been gone a whole week?

"In where, Jaune?" Pyrrha gave him a confused look.

"I'll tell you later, for now we should probably see if I can leave."

Pyrrha nodded and separated from her leader. He took a longer than intended look at her and noticed her eyes were red and puffy. 'Had she been crying?' He thought. He'd try to make her feel better later.

They both got up; the doctor had informed Pyrrha earlier that if he were to wake up again, she should take him to the front desk to get discharged. He had ran tests after he passed out the second time and concluded that it was merely fatigue that caused him to faint and that he should be perfectly healthy.

Pyrrha held onto him as he took his first few steps. He gave her an amused look. "I can walk on my own Pyrrha," he said. She quickly let go and mumbled an apology, her face downcast. However, Jaune quickly grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers in hers. "But my balance seems to be a bit off, I might need a helping 'hand'." He smiled like a moron at his pun, a light blush staining his cheeks.

She giggled a little and blushed as well, though her face was a lot darker than his. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and nodded. They began walking towards the main area.

After a few steps, the initial rush of holding hands died down. It felt nice, slowly walking with his partner. It would be nice if things could always be this peaceful, though he remembered the warning from Julius. He knew that if he wanted to protect this world, he'd have to start being more extreme with his training. 'At least now I have a semblance that can help me.'

Jaune stopped walking. Pyrrha was tugged back as she accidently kept walking. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Jaune shook his head. "Pyrrha… do you know about my semblance?" He found it quite difficult to maintain eye contact with her.

"I know that it activated while I was unconscious. Everyone else told me." She paused for a few moments. "They also told me how powerful you became… how you defeated the enemy in the blink of an eye… How you weren't in control of yourself."

"What do you mean 'I wasn't in control'?" he asked.

"You couldn't differentiate between friend and foe while you were like… well that. You almost attacked Weiss."

"I… did?" Now he was really skeptical. If he were to use his semblance without learning how to control it, then he would end up hurting people. But the only way to learn how to control it is to use it. It was paradoxical. He couldn't look in her direction, he was too ashamed.

"Jaune, look here." Pyrrha grabbed the sides of his face and turned his head towards her. "No one blames you for what happened. I'm even grateful that it happened… You saved my life, and there's no way I could ever repay you."

"Well actually, that would make us even." Jaune finally got the courage to look into her eyes. 'Her beautiful green eyes…' "Since you started training me, I think now we're even." He smiled warmly at her.

She beamed at his smile and chuckled. "I guess so…" She took a closer look at his face. Something seemed… off. 'His eyes… they're pink…?' She leaned in closer.

"Uhh… Pyrrha what are you doing?" Jaune became more nervous the closer she got to his face. She was still holding his cheeks.

"Jaune, your eyes changed colour…" She took out her scroll and turned on the front facing camera and gave it to him. He took the scroll and looked at the screen.

"Holy crap you're right! They're dark pink." He looked at her again. She was fixated on his face. Oum, how he thought she was beautiful. Easily a contender for the perfect person. His eyes changed colour again, to a much lighter, pale pink.

"Jaune they changed colour again." She stared in wonderment at his eyes. 'Is this due to his semblance?' she thought. She was so focused at his eyes that she didn't notice she was leaning closer and closer towards his face. Her face was only a few inches from his until she finally realized how close she was to him.

Neither of them said anything until Pyrrha closed her eyes and started leaning forward. She got ever closer to his lips. Jaune could feel her breath on his lips. He leaned forward aiming to close the gap.

"JAUNEY!" Their kiss was cut short as they were knocked down by their rambunctious teammate. "You're up! It's been no fun without you. I mean, not that Ren and Pyrrha aren't fun, you know what I mean."

"It's… It's good to see you too Nora," Jaune breathed out as he was crushed. Pyrrha giggled at the two. 'Maybe some other time,' she thought.

A hand was reached out to him. "It's good to see you Jaune." Jaune smiled up at Ren.

"Thanks Ren, it's good to see you guys." Jaune took his hand and stood up. His stomach grumbled. "I think being passed out for a week has gotten me really hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?" He smiled. Everyone smiled back and nodded and they headed towards the front desk to sign out.

The paperwork didn't take too long, as Pyrrha had previously filled out all the boring stuff while he was in his week-long coma. He signed the last sheet and sighed. He could finally go get some food.

* * *

When Jaune stepped outside, he felt weird. Everything he saw was more vibrant, more… analog. He could almost feel the light hitting his eyes, almost as if his sight became a super sense. He felt much more energized than he was back inside the building. It was really sunny outside. 'Is my Semblance causing this?' he thought. He would have to test it out later.

The walk to the cafeteria was anything but boring. Nora wouldn't stop rambling on about how cool he was during the mission, or about what he had missed while he was unconscious. Eventually though, they got to the cafeteria.

The moment they entered the cafeteria, it became silent. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the 4 teens as they walked in. Even upper years were whispering amongst themselves. "Uhh, am I a ghost or something…?" Jaune whispered to his team.

"Word got out of what happened… and rumours spread fast around here." Pyrrha gave a glance to Nora whom of which, put a finger on her mouth symbolling Pyrrha to not go any deeper. This didn't go unnoticed by Jaune, however he didn't really mind, it was bound to get out eventually.

"Let's just get our food and go sit down. I think I see Ruby and her team." Jaune smiled. They all got their trays and went up to team RWBY.

"Hey guys!" Jaune sat down next to Weiss. Pyrrha sat beside him.

"Jaune! You're awake!" Ruby yelled. Everyone was immediately over him asking questions about his recovery. He noticed they still treated him the same even after the 'incident'. He smiled and chatted as they ate their food.

The cafeteria went back to normal as the rowdiest group in beacon ate lunch together.

"Hey cut it out!" Jaune heard the ever familiar accent that velvet had. He looked over and saw Cardin and his lackeys picking on the poor girl; pulling and tugging her ears. Jaune understood why Velvet never fought back… she didn't want to stoop to their level and resort to violence to end her problems.

Jaune noticed the scowl on Pyrrha's face as she observed Cardin. Jaune sighed. If he was going to help protect the world, he had to start somewhere. He got up and started walking over to Cardin. Pyrrha was surprised to see her partner taking action. Usually he'd just get upset and try not to get involved.

"Hey Cardin! Leave her alone man," he said as he walked up to the group. "I thought I told you to not mess with my friends." He stepped in between him and Velvet.

"Mind your own business Arc. I've never even seen you talk to 'it' before, so there's no way you're friends." Cardin wouldn't back down now, he was too prideful.

Jaune turned towards Velvet. "Hi, I'm Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." He extended his hand out. "V-Velvet." She gingerly shook it. He turned back to Cardin.

"See, friends." Jaune stared Cardin down.

"Out of the way Jauney-boy." Cardin was getting tired of this.

"Why don't you make me?" Jaune looked at him, his eyes had turned red.

"OOOOOOOOOOO" Yang yelled from across the cafeteria, and was immediately shut up by Blake.

'Jaune Arc, please report to headmaster Ozpin's office.' The announcement was repeated again.

"You're lucky this time, Arc." Cardin and his group shoved past him and left the cafeteria.

He sighed and turned to Velvet. "You alright?" he asked. She nodded.

"You know, you didn't have to get mixed up in this." She couldn't keep her eyes off the ground.

"I have a habit of helping friends out." He smiled at her. She looked up at him and curled her lips upwards. To Velvet, he seemed genuinely interested in being her friend; not something she encountered too often, aside from her own team and team RWBY.

"Anyways, I gotta go, I'll see you around." Jaune waved goodbye and walked back towards his other friends.

"Wow Vomit Boy, I didn't know you had it in you," Yang teased and gave him a firm pat on the back.

"When are you going to stop calling me that?" He sighed. "I wonder what Ozpin wants."

"It's probably because he found out you woke up, and he might want to debrief you about… your semblance." Weiss spoke up. There was hesitation in her voice when she mentioned his semblance. She was still a little uneasy. But honestly, so was everyone else.

"Aww crap, I wanted to get some training in and get caught up in school. I'm behind an entire week! I hope he doesn't take too long." He ranted to himself.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." He started walking towards the exit.

"Wait a minute Jaune, I'll come with you!" Pyrrha called out and caught up to him. He smiled. "I actually wanted to talk to you as well."

"Sure thing, what's on your mind?" Jaune was always up for a conversation with his friends. No matter what he was going through, he would always put his friends before himself. A pure heart indeed.

"It's about your semblance… I want to see it." Pyrrha gave him those eyes. Those eyes that told him that she was going to fight tooth and nail until she came out victorious. She'd used them on him before, but for petty things like a back massage after a long day of training, or a sweet treat while they were in town. They were childlike in essence, but also very determined.

He sighed, "Pyrrha, what if I go out of control like that again?" He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control it, and even worse, hurt her. "I don't want to risk hurting you."

They walked through the exit doors. "Jaune, trust me, I won't get hurt, and besides, you won't be able to hone your skills unless you use it." He still looked uneasy. She put a firm, yet comforting hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"But I don't even know how I would go about activating it…" Pyrrha squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Don't worry about it, we'll cross that bridge together, as partners." She smiled at him. His eyes turned into a faint red as he smiled back and nodded. Pyrrha couldn't get enough of his eyes, they were so pretty, no matter what colour they changed to. She found herself staring at him longer than intended as he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Okay Jaune, I'll head back to the others. I'll see you for training, okay?" He nodded and she gave him one last squeeze on his shoulder before turning to leave.

"Wait, Pyrrha." Pyrrha hummed and turned around, to see Jaune fidgeting slightly.

"I just… I just wanted to say thank you… for everything that you've done for me. I don't think I'd be the person that I am today without your help. And I just wanted to let you know how gratefu-"

Pyrrha put a finger on his lips. "You don't need to thank me Jaune, I'm your partner; and as your partner, it's my responsibility to help you when need me, and I know I can count on you to do the same for me."

"I know that… but-"

Pyrrha leaned in and gave him a small, chaste kiss on his cheek. "Don't worry about it, really." She gave him a small wink, blush ever present on her face.

Jaune blushed heavily and nodded, his eyes had turned sky blue. "Right… Thanks again."

"I told you, it's no problem. Now get going, we still have to train today." Pyrrha turned him around and gave him a gentle push.

He waved one final goodbye and walked towards Ozpin's tower.

 **A/N: There you have it. I've also been using a colour chart for the different colours of Jaune's eyes (it'll be explained later in the story). If you're curious you can google 'eagle spirit ministry colour chart'. Anyways, thanks a bunch for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review to tell me how I did and if you have the time, tell me what I can improve on. Thank you all, and have a good day :).**


	3. Revelations

Light – Chapter 3

 **A/N: Well... *SPOILERS* I managed to get over Pyrrha's death and worked on this. Man was that rough. Though I hope she makes appearances in the show, whether that be as a voice in Jaune's head or a Resurrection of some sort, I don't really care, I just want more ;_;. Anyways, here's the 3rd chapter and tell me what you all think (eg. Leave a review ;) )**

* * *

Jaune

* * *

The elevator dinged, signalling that I reached the top floor. The doors opened and I saw Ozpin filing various papers at his desk. He must have seen me come in, since he stopped his work and motioned for me to come in.

"Ah, Jaune. Please come, have a seat," he said as he put his paperwork aside.

I slowly walked up to his desk, nervous as ever. I mean, I've only spoken to him once, and that was during initiation. He wasn't the most 'approachable' person, and I've tried to avoid him because of the whole 'I cheated my way into beacon thing.' But I was going to have to talk to him eventually.

"Is there a reason you wanted to see me, sir?" I sat down in the chair across from him.

"Yes, a few reasons actually. First, I'd like to congratulate you on your recovery. You fought well on your mission, and thanks to you and your team's efforts, the mission was a success."

I straightened up my posture and puffed my chest out a little in pride. "Thank you sir, we tried our best."

"And I hope you continue doing so. Both team JNPR and team RWBY have demonstrated excellent teamwork when on the field. I hope you continue being role models for the rest of the students. I have high hopes." He smiled a little and sipped his coffee.

"Thank you professor, I'll be sure to pass that message along to my team, and Ruby's as well." I beamed a little. This was our first real accomplishment as a team, and we were praised by the headmaster no less! I couldn't wait to tell them.

"And another thing Jaune." Ozpin leaned forward on his elbows.

I was quickly pulled from my thoughts as Ozpin began to talk again.

"I was recently contacted by your parents and they-"

"MY PARENTS!?" I fell over in my chair. I quickly got off the floor and sat back on the chair. "What do you mean my parents? How'd they-"

"Find you?" Ozpin finished my sentence and was smirking at me. "You think this is the first time some teenager ran away from home so they could become a hunter? I'm fairly old Jaune, I've seen this happen far too often."

"But you don't understa-"

"Though it is rather strange isn't it?" I was cut off again. Okay for future reference, never interrupt Ozpin in a conversation.

"What is?" I asked. He seemed to be hinting towards something.

"How can someone of your background suddenly disappear without anyone noticing? Surely it must have been on the news by now." He said. He sipped his coffee again. Is that thing never ending or something?

"My background…?" Wait… he couldn't possibly know who I am, could he?

"You think I wouldn't immediately notice when you have _that_ last name?" He cut me off again. Okay, I get it. "Next time you forge your transcripts Jaune, do try to be more subtle."

I fell out of my chair again. "That chair seems to have a faulty leg. I really should get someone to fix that." I heard him sip his coffee while on the floor. I could practically feel that smug look on his face.

I immediately got up after the initial shock wore off. "You knew!?"

He chuckled. "Do you honestly believe that I wouldn't immediately doubt the validity of your transcripts the moment I saw them? They were even comparable to the ones of your partner. Though it was only speculation until I saw your initial performance when I launched you off the side of that cliff." He had a point there. Anyone with two eyes and half a brain could see that I had faked my way in. So then why…

"Then why didn't you kick me out?" I wasn't scared. If Ozpin wanted me gone, he'd have kicked me out on day one. But for some reason he let me stay, and I wanted to know why.

Ozpin gazed absentmindedly into his mug. "Why didn't I…? It would have been the most logical thing to do, yes. But over my years, I've learned that being logical isn't always the best option. I went with my gut on that decision. I saw potential in you; potential I don't see very often. It would have been a mistake to have let you go." He sipped from his coffee. He sounds strangely similar to Julius. I guess I actually might have more potential than I give myself credit for.

"So you let me stay because you saw that I had potential?"

He nodded. "I was also curious to see how someone with such little combat experience would fair here." He chuckled and sipped from his never-ending coffee mug. I bet this is all a game to him. "That, and I may have owed your father a favour and I believe this makes us even now."

I couldn't believe my ears. This lunatic was our headmaster? How the hell did he even know dad. There's only a few people I know of that are friends with him. I decided I wouldn't pry any further though, for the sake of my own sanity.

"Oh and also, when I debriefed team JNPR and RWBY while you were unconscious, they had said that you may have found your semblance. Care to share?" He sipped from his mug again. Is this guy's semblance coffee or something, what the hell?

I sighed, might as well try and explain it to him. He might know more than I do. "Yeah, though I don't remember very much. All I remember is Pyrrha being injured, and then everything after that is a haze. Next thing I knew, I woke up in Beacon's infirmary."

He looked me dead in the eye. "Are you sure that's all that you remember?" It was almost as if he was calling me out. Like he knew what happened… He just wanted me to tell him.

"Well… I was in this dream, or was it a dream? I don't really know. I talked to one of my ancestors. Julius." Ozpin raised his eyebrows in interest and drunk more of his coffee. He signalled for me to continue. "And he explained to me that my semblance is hereditary, and that when I activate it, I become a manifestation of light, or something like that…" I paused for a moment, making sure I carefully remembered every detail of our conversation.

"And then he said something about a danger approaching our world. He didn't explain much, but that's most of what he said."

"Interesting, and what do you think of this?" Ozpin asked me.

I stopped. I didn't really know what to say. That I'd be a hero and save the world? Yeah right.

"I don't really know…"

"Let me rephrase that; what do you feel?"

"What do I feel…?" Ozpin nodded.

"I don't feel like I'm ready, or rather, I don't feel like I will be. I feel like I'll just end up disappointing everyone."

"Very few, if any, are ever ready for this kind of conflict, Jaune." Ozpin stood up and turned towards the windows overlooking the campus. "But that doesn't mean you should stop trying. Is it better to die without resisting, or to go down kicking and screaming, never turning back?"

"I'd rather die trying than die wondering."

Ozpin chuckled. "Well said." He turned towards me. "I've made my decision."

I raised my eyebrows in question. "I've decided to let you stay at Beacon." The way he said it almost makes it seem like he was pondering kicking me out. "But on one condition." He turned around. "Don't ever give up striving for excellence, and in exchange, I won't give up on you. Do we have a deal?" He held out his hand.

I was taken aback a little but quickly recovered. I took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Great. That's all I needed to speak with you. You're free to go. I'm sure your teammates would like to make up for that lost week."

"Okay, I'll see you later sir." I gave my farewell and went back to the elevator. I sighed. That was a lot to take in. Not only did Ozpin know about my transcripts, but now my parents know where I am.

It's only a matter of time before they show up...

* * *

I finally got back to the dorm building. It was already 2 pm and it felt like I just woke up. 'Gotta make up for that lost week.' I opened up the door to my room and was surprised to only find Pyrrha.

"Hey Pyr," I said as I walked into the room.

"Oh, hello Jaune. How did the talk go?" Pyrrha looked up at me from her desk. She was still in her armour; I should probably be expecting a training session soon.

"So uhh… Ozpin knew about my transcripts the entire time," I said as I rubbed the back of my head and smiled sheepishly.

Pyrrha started coughing and looked at me with wide eyes. "What, he did!?" She rose out of her chair and almost ran up to me.

"Yeah, he pretty much knows everything about me, including my family. Though he still let me stay. "

"That's great! But your family? That doesn't seem like such a big deal, right? I mean, just about everyone has a family." It only seems natural for that to be her reaction. Most people had normal families whereas mine… was different to say the least.

"Pyrrha my family is different… they have a lot of, I guess 'influence' you would say." I tried to not tell her much. The less people knew about my background the better.

"Influence? You mean like Weiss's family?"

"Yeah, something like that." I sighed. "Pyrrha, I'm sure you'll find out everything about them when they visit, and from my guess, it'll be sooner rather than later." She nodded, seemed like it was good enough for her.

"Now come on, I think it's time to test myself, don't you think?" I signalled for her to follow me as I made my way out of the dorm and into the hallway.

"Right behind you!" I heard her grab her sword and shield and she quickly caught up to me.

Once we were there, I stood at my corner of the sparring ground. "Let's just skip the warmup for today. I wanna get right into it."

Pyrrha chuckled at me. "Eager as always. Okay then, best of 7's to begin?"

I nodded and unsheathed Crocea Mors. She did the same with her weapon. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, I could practically feel the energy emanating from it.

"You ready?" She asked me. I nodded back at her and got into my fighting stance. For some reason, I could feel everything through my eyes. Like none of my other senses mattered, my eyes were doing all the thinking.

She decided to take the first move and rushed me. I was seeing it in slow motion. I tried to move my sword to block her attack, but I couldn't move it fast enough. She had already landed the hit. I took the hit in stride and prepared myself for the onslaught that was soon to follow. This time I was ready as she twirled around and was about to hit me with her shield. I ducked out of the way of the curved edge and attempted a counter-attack.

I positioned my shield in front of me and went for the shield bash. She already reacted however and jumped over me, to my backside. It felt like my eyes were reacting fast enough, but my body was just too slow. Before I could turn around, she had swung at me legs and knocked me down.

"We need to work on your speed." She gave me her hand helped me up off the ground.

"Yeah, for some reason I can read your attacks way ahead of time, but my body just won't keep up."

"Read my attacks…? Jaune, just before the mission you could barely keep up with my attacks. You were always reacting near the last second."

"I know, I know it sounds crazy, but every time you come at me, I can see your attacks in slow-motion. I know where you're going to attack and how, but I can't keep up." I sighed.

"Is this because of your semblance…?" Pyrrha still seemed skeptical.

"I think so, I'm still not sure of what it does actually."

"You know, you never actually told me what it does to begin with." Pyrrha crossed her arms.

"Oh right! Well, I'll just start from the beginning." I paused. "You may want to take a seat, this could take a while." We sat down, her beside me.

I explained my 'dream' to her. About how I met my ancestor Julius, about my hereditary semblance, and about the warning he gave me. It was still very new and strange to me, though I explained as best as I could.

"So your semblance is light?" Pyrrha was very intrigued as she talked to me.

"Yeah, exactly. But there's also another side to it where I have a connection to my ancestors, which lets me draw upon their memories and aura."

"So… like an aura reserve?" She asked.

"Yeah something like that." I smiled. She was still staring at me in in that 'cute' but in shock sort of way.

"Well, I guess the part about light makes sense here. Your brain and eyes probably process light much quicker now."

"Yeah, well there's only one way to test that theory. How about a few more rounds?" I got up and held out my hand. She smiled and took it as I helped her up.

We sparred for a good hour or so until Pyrrha decided to finish it up. I had gotten surprisingly good according to her; my form was perfect, it was just a matter of physical fitness, something she said we would focus on from now on.

Now came the part that I really didn't like. Aura training. I mean, I had lots of it and everything, but it was just so hard to control. Pyrrha said it had been hard for her as well before she unlocked her semblance.

"Alright now remember, clear your mind of all doubts and project your soul outwards. Control it, mold it." I could hear Pyrrha walking around me, directing me. "Concentrate that aura into your hand."

I heard her gasp. I opened my eyes to see myself holding a small ball of aura that was flickering. It was unstable, but it was a start.

"Great work Jaune! That's much better than what you could do before." She gave me a firm punch to the shoulder. She always did that whenever she got excited. It was cute. "You'll be a master of aura control in no time."

It disappeared shortly after and I got up, dusting myself off. "I think we should call that a day, don't you think? It's getting pretty dark out."

"That seems like enough for today, come on, we should go inside and get you caught up on that week of classes that you missed." I groaned as she giggled and I followed her inside.

* * *

Holy crap do I love my semblance right now. Every time I read something I memorize it. Each chapter, each little sentence is ingrained into my memory. I didn't know this of course until Ren and Pyrrha began quizzing me. They were surprised to find that I answered every question they threw at me correctly, even the ones that they had trouble working through.

It must be the light from the books. Everything I read or see is etched into my brain, almost like a photograph. Though I still have to work out the limit to this ability; like how long do these short-term memories last? I don't want to read weeks before a test only to find out that I've forgotten everything.

I got caught up to a week's worth of work in a few short hours. I would be lying if I said my teammates weren't a little jealous. Pyrrha tried to seem happy for me but I knew on the inside she was thinking 'you lucky S.O.B'. "Hey, this means I can finally help you guys in all the classes!" I tried to be optimistic for them but they were still a little salty. Eh, they'll get over it.

Eventually, it came time to sleep and we each went to our respective beds. I said good night to everyone as they said the same and turned the lights off and drifted to sleep.

* * *

 _Where am I…? Is this a forest? I looked around and saw massive trees I've never seen before. They seemed to be as tall as skyscrapers. I heard a low growl from behind me. I turned around and gasped to see a massive beowolf, easily three or four times as big as the ones that I've encountered._

 _I turned and ran, the beowolf chased after me. Panting, I ran as fast as I could through the forest. It felt weird, almost familiar… and for some reason the front side of my body seemed heavy. I looked down and noticed one… er two things that usually shouldn't be there._

' _What the hell why am I a girl?' I shouted but no voice came out. I kept running and didn't seem to notice the tree in front of me as I tripped over one of its roots. I landed on my back just to see the beowolf pounce on me._

 _I gasped and stood up, only this time, I was somewhere else. I heard loud gunfire and shouting. There were flames everywhere. A hail of arrows fell like rain from the clouds. "Commander, what do we do!?" I turned to see some guy with a sword and shield. There were people everywhere that were dressed the same and they all had weapons. 'Holy crap… this must be a war.'_

" _Commander, we have to hurry or we'll lose more men!" I heard the man shout again. I went to say something but I heard someone else's voice. "Form three squadrons! Two will attack their east and west flank while I take a squad and do a frontal assault. Wait until for my signal before attacking from the flanks!" It came from my mouth without my control. The voice was very familiar though, like I've heard it somewhere._

" _Alright men, move!" I began running with a group of men behind me heading straight for the front lines. I ran faster and faster, my shield in front of me. I came closer and closer to the enemy. "Now!" I sprinted the remaining distance and rammed into the soldiers._

"Jaune…" Whose voice was that? "Jaune…" It was getting louder. "Jaune!" I jumped a little and sat up straight.

"Wha…?" I looked around and noticed Pyrrha standing there, concern etched on her face.

"Jaune, you were shaking and mumbling in your sleep, is everything okay?" She squeezed my shoulder gently.

"Hmm… Yeah, I just had a weird dream I guess." I said. I was still a little drowsy. "What time is it? Did I wake you?" I groaned.

"No, you didn't. It's only around seven-thirty, though Ren and Nora decided to get breakfast and let you rest."

"Shouldn't they have woken me up? Don't we have school?" I asked.

"It's Saturday, Jaune."

"Oh…" I sighed and lied back down on my bed. I rolled over. "Then give me five more minutes."

"Jaune…" I heard her say and felt the covers being lifted up.

"No, no! Stop! Don't expose me to the cold!" I yelled and tried to grab on.

"Stop being lazy and get up!" She tugged harder. I had a surprising amount of strength this morning.

"NO!" I gave one final, almighty tug. I pulled to hard however, as I sent Pyrrha tumbling into the bed. "They're all mine now." I snuggled back into the covers.

I felt Pyrrha shuffling beside me and I realized the position we were in. I felt my cheeks burning as I felt her fingers ghost over exposed skin around my torso. What is she…? My eyes shot open. Oh no. But it was too late. She had already begun her assault.

"Wa-HAHHAHA-PYRHHAHAHAHAHA STOP!" Curse my ticklishness.

"Are you gonna get up then?" She was giggling at my misery.

"NEVAHHAHAHAHAHA!" Alright, two could play at this game. I flipped over and before she could react slid my hands under her nightshirt and started tickling her back.

"JAUNEAHHAHAHAA!"

"Not so fun being on the receiving end isn't it?" I laughed.

"PLEASAHAHAHAHAHA."

"Will you stop trying to force me out of bed then?"

"YES! I PROHAHAHMISE." I stopped and let her catch her breath. Throughout the exchange I didn't realize that Pyrrha had squirmed her way on top of me. Now, she was panting heavily while laying on my chest. This would be a really bad time for someone to walk in. I didn't try to move her though, hell, any teenage boy in their right mind would do the same.

Once she caught her breath she placed her hands on both sides of me and lifted herself up. She was staring down at me now. Her hair wasn't in her usual pony tail, instead she let it cascade down her back and around her shoulders. Her cheeks were red from all the laughing and probably from something else. Man, she was extremely beautiful. Like holy hell, how has someone not asked her out before?

"I missed you." I was cut off from my train of thought. "I really, really missed you." I felt tears dripping from her eyes. She brushed stray locks of her hair out of my face. "The week you were away, I realized that if anything were to happen to you, I'd die inside. There's… There's no way I could ever live without you." I grabbed her face and wiped her tears with my thumbs.

She buried her face into the sheets next to my neck. "Please… please promise me that we'll both live together, no matter what happens."

I was shocked… I didn't know it had affected her this much. I wrapped my arms around her and I felt her stiffen up. I squeezed tightly and stroked her hair soothingly. "Don't worry, I'll live… I'll make sure that I live no matter what. For you guys."

She seemed to like that answer and nodded. I felt her hot breath on my neck and shivered. "Good, cause this," she leaned her head up and kissed my jaw as she brought her arm up and wrapped it around my head, her hand resting in my hair, "is mine." I looked over and she had fallen asleep.

I guess five more minutes wouldn't hurt.

* * *

 **A/N: Well there it is. Tell me what you all think by leaving a review or even messaging me. Thanks! Hope you all enjoyed. Until next time, later :P**


	4. Fight

**A/N**

 **Hey guys, sorry it took literally months to get a new chapter out. I was/still am struggling with depression, school and just life in general. These sound like excuses I know, but I really am trying to write a little everyday. So please bear with me through this, I promise I'll try and get another chapter out much sooner than the few months it took me to write this. That being said, I hope my writing is to your liking. It may be a bit different considering the work is spread out over a couple months. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a review/comment on what you liked/disliked while reading! Constructive criticism is more than welcome. :)**

Light – Chapter 4

* * *

"Jaune Arc."

The blood drained from my face as my name was called. Of course the first sparring match of the day would be against _her_. It's been over a week since I woke up from that coma, and Pyrrha's upped my training regime tenfold. I'm grateful and resentful at the same time, though I know she only wants what's best for me. It feels like I've made more progress this past week than I have all year.

As secrets to my semblance were discovered, Pyrrha and I realized the sheer magnitude of its power. It wasn't something simple like everyone else's semblance where it only accomplished one task, like Ruby's speed. No mine… mine was dynamic. It would _change_ me. Though Pyrrha and I were still working out the actual details of how my semblance worked.

Though I hadn't even figured out how to consciously activate my semblance, I was still working on that. But for now I'd reap the benefits of its passive effects.

A cough interrupted my train of thought. I looked around and everyone was looking at me. Oh right, I was called up.

"Alright, let's get this over with." I sighed and grabbed Crocea Mors, forgoing my shield. I knew that I had to be as mobile as possible fighting her, and my shield would only slow me down.

My opponent was already down in the arena. Miss Goodwitch decided to use the outdoor arena today since the weather was so nice, and I'd have to agree with her. It was around noon, and Sol was at its peak. Good. I'd need every advantage I could get.

Nora and Ren wished me luck as I made my way down the stairs and into the changing rooms. I met up with Pyrrha who was just returning from her match – She had obviously won by a landslide.

What a surprise.

I walked up to her as she was sitting on one of the benches, taking off the greaves covering her _very_ toned legs. She turned to me with a greeting as her hands worked on the straps. She took one look at me and I knew immediately she could see through me.

"You're nervous." It was a statement, not a question. As much as she's helped me this past week, my self-confidence was still a work in progress.

"It's that obvious, huh?" My voice cracked a little as I rubbed the back of my head, taking a seat next to her.

"Your eyes are light grey." She stated matter-of-factly with a small smile. I let out a small sigh. I had been doing that a lot lately.

"Right, I forgot about that. I don't think I'll get used to this anytime soon." She responded by sticking her tongue out at me. Playful as ever I see… _and beautiful._ My hormone enriched mind added at the end. But I couldn't argue, seeing as how it was the truth.

The downside to my semblance was I couldn't hide my emotions anymore. Pyrrha, as ever observant as she is, noticed the colour of my eyes now correlated to how I was feeling. She spent all week keeping track of my eye colour and matched it with my different emotions. I think it's safe to say that I won't be able to hide anything from her anymore.

"Well I _am_ fighting _Weiss_." I emphasised her name as if to give justification to my nervousness. Though it seemed like an excuse.

"So what? You said you wanted to be a hero right? You'll have to beat her eventually. Heck, you'll even have to beat me. You don't have the luxury to put yourself down like this." She sighed again. I was avoiding eye contact, and I think it's safe to say that my eyes hadn't changed colour, given her reaction.

"Jaune, look at me." She placed her – now bare – hand on my cheek, and turned my head towards her. "You're a natural born fighter, and leader. You've made more progress in the few months we've been here than most people have even in the combat academies. You're special, you may not see it yet, but I do, and so does Ozpin." She lightly rubbed her thumb on my cheek.

"You've got so much potential, but the only thing holding you back right now… is you… Now I'm not saying to just immediately believe in yourself, but you have to at least start trying." She got up and held her hand out to me. "So, Jaune Arc. Are you just going to just sit around moping, or are you going to get out there and kick some motherfucking ass?"

My jaw dropped. This was the first time I ever heard Pyrrha swear. I looked up at her and she was a little red. I don't think she's ever heard herself swear either. I smiled and took her hand as she helped me up. She was right, I had to start believing in myself if I wanted to catch up with everyone.

"Yes ma'am! You're gonna see some serious ass kicking soon!" I mock saluted her. She playfully punched me in the shoulder – a little too hard – and smiled. I flinched and rubbed my shoulder, a little too dramatically I guess.

She rolled her eyes and took a step forward, closing the gap between us. Next thing I felt was a pair of soft, warm lips in my hair, as she grabbed a handful of it. A moment passed and she stepped back. I was blushing, but she seemed unfazed at the contact.

"A bit of luck before the match." She gave me a wink.

"Uh… I think I might need a lot more luck," I said cheekily. She closed the gap again and was looking right into my eyes.

"Mmm… how about if you win?" She was teasing me.

"And if I lose?" She cutely tilted her head to the side as she thought of something.

"Then you treat me to some chocolate in Vale."

"So a kiss from Pyrrha Nikos if I win… or a date with Pyrrha Nikos if I lose…" I checked the straps on all my armour, making sure it was secure. It's been getting worn out, I mused. I'll have to make repairs or get a new set when I can. "I don't know whether I should even try to win." I smirked at her.

"Shush, if you lose on purpose you won't get anything." She smacked me in the chest. "Now hurry up and get out there." She turned me around and pushed me forward.

I looked back one more time before I made my way to the arena, and Pyrrha gave me her patented cereal girl smile with a thumbs up. I turned back around with a smile. She sure knows how to alleviate all my worries. Maybe I'll treat her to chocolate even if I do win.

I made my way to the centre of the arena where Weiss was already there waiting for me. She was checking the dust cartridges on her rapier as I approached her.

"Don't think that just because this is your first match in a week that I'll go easy on you, Arc," she said.

"Good, cause if you take me lightly, I'll end up kicking your butt, Ice Queen." I retorted back. She scoffed and stood her ground.

"Yeah right, you'd be lucky to get even one hit in."

"We'll see about that." I got into my stance with Crocea Mors.

We waited for the counter to countdown.

5…

Okay Jaune, feet shoulder width apart, right foot slightly ahead of the other.

4…

Never take your eyes off your opponent.

3…

Crap, what else did Pyrrha tell me…?

2…

Oh right.

1…

Kick some ass.

0…

I wasted no time and closed the gap. Funny, it seemed like I was faster than usual. I went in for the first strike, a slash to her waist. She immediately blocked it with her rapier and my sword slid past the side of her waist. She brought her sword back and went in for a strike for my chest.

An image flashed before my eyes, one of a white haired woman with the same type of weapon… but the setting was different. It was somewhere else with… more snow.

In my moment of confusion I didn't have time to block and her strike landed. Even though I could pretty much see in slow motion, it didn't mean anything if I couldn't react fast enough. I flew back a few feet and immediately rolled over to dodge ice shooting out of her glyphs.

More images kept flashing before my eyes, they were alien, yet familiar at the same time. Damn it, why did this have to happen now?

I'd been getting these visions ever since I woke up from my coma. They would pop up randomly throughout the day, and would always be there when I slept. But the one constant throughout the visions was Crocea Mors… it was always there no matter what vision it was.

Almost like…

My eyes widened as I ducked and dodged more of Weiss's attacks.

'Your semblance provides a link to all the arcs that have come before you, allowing you to draw from our energy.' Julius' voice rang through my head.

'Remember… '

'You're never alone.'

* * *

The fight had been going on for a few minutes now, Jaune being able to dodge and block most of her attacks. But it seemed as though he could never get close enough to her to deal any damage back.

I looked over at the aura meter to see how much damage she'd done so far. I did a double take and re-read the aura meters. There had to be some sort of malfunction.

Jaune was still at one-hundred percent, while Weiss was at ninety-four.

I looked over at Ren and he seemed to be just as confused. Miss Goodwitch however, did not seem the least bit fazed. Surely she should know that Jaune should have lost a lot of aura by now?

I decided against saying anything. She doesn't seem like the type of person to let something like that go unnoticed. For now I just had to focus on watching the fight.

* * *

I continued rolling around, ducking and dodging as fast as I could. I would have been done for by now if it weren't for my eyes.

The images kept popping in and out randomly throughout the fight.

I'm never alone. These images, I realized, weren't actually images. They were memories. Julius did say that one of the abilities of my semblance was that it provided a link between me and my ancestors, the previous Arcs.

One of my ancestors must have fought someone with a rapier back in the day, and those are the memories I'm currently seeing.

I barely had time to think as Weiss was relentless in her attacks. She jabbed her rapier forward, and luckily, I saw it coming. I held Crocea Mors up and let her rapier slide across my blade. Right when the hilts were about to meet I ducked down and spun around, smashing the hilt of Crocea Mors as hard as I could into her side.

It made sense. Plenty of people use a rapier even if it's not that popular compared to other weapons. Maybe I was just subconsciously reaching out to them.

I parried Weiss' rapier and kicked her in the side where I had already smashed my hilt into, and sent her tumbling away. Funny, I wasn't feeling tired in the slightest. Maybe it was just the sunlight.

I had to concentrate. Clear my mind and let it flow is what Ren always said when he'd drag me out to meditate. It was worth a shot. Weiss seemed incapacitated and I didn't think it would last very long.

I dug Crocea Mors into the ground in front of me and put both hands on the hilt. I remained as still as I could as I tried to clear my mind. I had to let the memories flow.

If this didn't work, I was gonna look like the biggest jackass of all time.

* * *

What was he doing? He was just standing there. He had a clear opening there and could have done some serious damage, maybe even have ended the fight.

But he was just _standing_ there.

"Ren, what's he doing?" I asked him. He seemed to be transfixed on Jaune, like he's seen it before.

"He's… clearing his mind. But for what, I do not know."

"You mean like, when you take him out for your training?" I asked. I never joined them when they went out on their little training sessions. I thought it was best to give the only 2 guys out of the 2 teams some alone time; to increase their bond. It helped that I used that time to go out bonding with Nora as well.

He nodded back at me. "He usually takes that pose whenever we practice meditating. Apparently holding Crocea Mors helps him stay calm." He shrugged.

I nodded and turned back to the fight.

Well whatever it is that he was doing had better work, or he was going to get a firm talking to.

Seconds went by, and he was still just standing there and Weiss was getting back up. It was smart of him to aim for the parts of her body that already took a bunch of damage, but it wasn't enough to keep her down. She was already making her way towards him.

Come on Jaune, hurry up.

She was only a few meters away, her rapier ready at her hip, pointing towards him.

She lunged forward her rapier aiming for his vitals.

It was over.

I heard a _ding_ and I looked closer. Jaune had moved his sword and stopped her attack. Yes! He was still in this.

He counter attacked and slashed at her already injured side which she jumped out the way of. They both stopped their attacks and stared each other down for the time being. It seemed that the first to move would have the disadvantage.

But something seemed off. His stance was completely different, he wasn't standing like he did before at all. He was even holding Crocea Mors with a looser grip.

"Does Jaune seem a little funny to you guys?" I looked over and saw Ruby looking at the fight with a perplexed look on her face. I know for a fact that she had already memorized Jaune's fighting patterns as she beat him multiple times in spars.

"Yes, he seems completely different now. His entire posture and the way he holds Crocea Mors has changed. If I had to guess, it seems something has happened to his conscious. It looks almost as if he's in some kind of trance." Ren squinted his eyes trying to look closer at him.

His hypothesis seemed sound enough. I just had to observe the fight and get answers after.

Jaune suddenly leapt forward, trying to catch Weiss off-guard. She managed to parry his attack, but Jaune let go of his blade. Weiss put too much force into her parry and lost her balance as his sword spun in the air.

He spun around, but not before catching his sword with his off-hand as he aimed for a slash across her legs. Weiss managed to react quickly enough as she summoned a glyph that let her slide back a few feet. Jaune however, was persistent and jumped with her.

He took Crocea Mors in both hands and went for a downward slash, aiming for her shoulder. Weiss brought her rapier up and blocked it in time, but again, Jaune let go of Crocea Mors. As the blade spun in the air, he went for a low kick and followed up with a jumping spin-kick to her face as he caught Crocea Mors mid-air.

"Woah, what. I've never seen Jaune do that before, not even when he tries to go all out in our spars," I thought out loud.

"Well obviously he's been practicing alone or something, look at those moves! The technique on his attacks look too polished to have been thought up on the fly," Yang had chimed in.

It appeared so, as Jaune continued his relentless assault on Weiss. He would let go of his sword anytime the two blades met and would switch to hand-to-hand before grabbing his sword out of the air. The technique indeed looked too polished to have been perfected at his time in Beacon. It was clear he was acting out of muscle memory. Something wasn't right.

It was hard to believe but my eyes weren't lying to me.

He was completely overpowering Weiss.

Anytime Weiss would go for a block or counter attack, he would let go of his sword to make her lose her balance before going on the offensive and – Woah, since when can he do flips?

"Holy smokes, Vomit boy has got moves! Pyrrha what have you been feeding him!?" Yang looked over at me for an answer.

"Nothing! I'm just as surprised as you are!"

"Well, whatever he's doing, it's completely dominating Ice Queen. Kick ass Jaune!" Nora yelled down at him.

"His technique is too irregular for Weiss to handle. Rapiers require a strict form to use effectively, and the way he's coming at her is forcing her to drop the form and act on her reflexes. It's a simple yet very hard to pull off strategy." Even Blake was impressed with him. Heck, I bet even Goodwitch was impressed with him.

"Plus, her rapier is really long. Being that close to her all the time doesn't give her any room to use it. He's doing what I probably think he would come up with in that situation. But the real question is, how?"

"And take a look at the aura meter." Everyone – including myself – momentarily turned to look at the aura meters – Jaune's completely full, Weiss at about half. It seemed Blake had observed the same thing I did… clever girl.

"Now watch what happens when Weiss lands a hit." We waited and sure enough, Weiss managed to land a blow onto Jaune, he faltered momentarily before continuing his assault.

Jaune's aura dropped down to ninety-three percent.

If I were to describe the look on everyone's faces in one word – including mine – it would be bewildered.

Jaune's aura was regenerating, and rapidly too. It only took a few moments to get all the way back up to one hundred percent.

No wonder why Goodwitch didn't seem concerned with the aura meters. They weren't broken at all, it was just that Jaune's aura was recovering so quickly that every time I checked, it was full… But how?

"You guys remember how Jaune explained his semblance to us right? How it was based on light?" I nodded and so did everyone else. I didn't see where Blake was going with this.

"Well, it's _really_ sunny out today…" Blake trailed off. Recognition crossed over everyone's face. It makes sense now.

The Sun. It was supplying him with a constant stream of energy.

"Well that explains a lot now actually." I thought back to our training sessions this past week. He had been full of energy throughout all our spars whenever the Sun was still up, but he would tire more when it would get darker.

"But that still doesn't explain how he's using techniques that he's never used before, let alone mastered," Ruby said.

"That's true. But even without the techniques Jaune would have probably won. He would have outlasted her," Blake said.

"I don't doubt that for a minute, he's practically glowing with energy right now!" Yang said. I look down and indeed, there seemed to be a faint glow about him, but it was getting slightly brighter by the moment.

"Wait… glowing?" Blake squinted her eyes. I heard a gasp escape her lips as her eyes went wide. "Guys we have to stop the fight!"

I was confused. What did she mean? Jaune was glowing brighter and brighter as he continued his attack on Weiss. It almost seemed as if he was getting faster and stronger with each passing second; what with the way she was able to dodge and block less and less.

"He's starting to look more and more like he did when his semblance activated. His sword is glowing as well!" I had never seen the quiet girl are riled up like this. She got up and started running down the stairs towards the arena. Everyone followed her. Everyone except me.

I looked over at the aura meters and saw that Weiss was losing her aura really quickly.

Jaune landed a really nasty hit with his – now glowing – sword and dropped Weiss' aura down to below twenty percent. Jaune had won. But he wasn't stopping.

He got down on one knee, sword in hand. He sprung up, Crocea Mors coming up with him as he went for a vertical slash to Weiss.

I wasn't going to be fast enough. I raised my hand in an effort to stop his attack, but it was already in motion. I couldn't do anything. I saw his arms get pushed to the side and his sword brushed past Weiss. Light shot out of his sword in the same arc his sword travelled.

The light cut through anything in its path as it shot past Weiss, and into the walls of the arena where it cut through that and continued on for several meters until it dissipated.

Fear was the only way I could describe Weiss' face as his attack zoomed past her. The light left a very sizeable hole in the concrete walls of the arena. If that attack had landed, it would have went right through her aura and actually hurt her.

Well that's not true. The attack did land a hit on Weiss, but it only grazed her cheek, leaving a small cut where blood began leaking out and down her cheek.

I looked over to see Miss Goodwitch holding her riding crop out. She was the one who redirected Jaune's attack. She was currently keeping him in place as I saw he was clearly struggling to move.

"Students! Please restrain Mr. Arc," Miss Goodwitch told the group that had rushed down. I jumped out of the bleachers and ran towards where he was currently being held back by Nora and Yang. The two strongest people in our year were struggling; trying to keep him down. He was thrashing about as Nora held his arms down and Yang his legs.

He was still glowing and it didn't seem like he would stop anytime soon. But it wasn't Jaune. Whoever this _thing_ was, it wasn't my leader. The body and everything one could possibly look at would leave them to believe it was him; but his mind wasn't there.

He momentarily locked his eyes with mine and the thrashing stopped. His eyes were glowing a sickening dark red colour. I had never seen his eyes change to that colour before, nor had I seen them glow. His semblance truly was _terrifying_ to say the least. I rubbed my arms as a chill shot through my spine and the hairs on my arms stood on end.

Just as I noticed his eyes changing colour and the glow dissipating, Miss Goodwitch stood in front of him.

"Sorry Jaune, this is for your own good." She placed her hand on his forehead and from what I could tell, she surged her aura forward and into his skull, effectively knocking him out. Before I had time to try and get to him, she levitated him in the air before moving him into the arena locker room; out of the Sun.

"He won't stay unconscious for long. Miss Schnee, you look like you need to go to the infirmary. Will you be able to escort Jaune as well when he wakes up?"

"Hold on Miss Goodwitch, you can't be serious? Jaune almost killed her just now. There's no-"

"It's fine, I'll go." Yang was cut off by Weiss who spoke up.

"Weiss you can't be serious?"

"I know exactly the risk I took when I came to Beacon and stepped into the arena. It'll be fine, and besides, I doubt he'll be doing much when he wakes up."

"Indeed, that is correct. He will likely not remember much of the fight. I assure you Ms. Xiao Long, your teammate will be perfectly safe." Miss Goodwitch seemed awfully calm in this situation.

"See? Nothing to worry about?" I looked at Weiss and she made eye contact with me and gave me a reassuring nod. I trusted her enough to let her take him there by herself. I would visit him later, when classes were over.

I nodded back and she walked towards the armoury, where Jaune was perched up against the wall, slouching slightly. I saw her pick him up and carry him inside, albeit with a bit of a struggle – to my amusement. She wasn't as gifted as her blonde teammate in physical strength but she certainly made up for it in other areas.

I sighed and went back to my seat, following everyone else. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Well, that was that. Hope you enjoyed. Please feel free to leave a review with what you liked or disliked, or even send me a message with questions. I try to respond to everyone that messages me :) Till next time, bye guys!**


	5. Secret

**A/N: Oh Boy this took way too long. School has been kicking my ass and I finally got a break so I powered through and decided to update this! I promise I haven't forgotten about this story. As always, I'd appreciate any sort of thoughts or feedback you may have. I love reading comments :) Even feel free to PM me, I read everyone's messages. Enjoy!**

* * *

Secret

He was heavy.

As Weiss Schnee walked down the hallways of Beacon, that's all she could think of. The blonde doofus that she was carrying was bordering – from what she could guess – 200 pounds. However it wasn't fat or unneeded baggage that he had on him, and the hands she had on his shoulders and back could vouch for her.

No, what her hands were feeling was definitely muscle. Lots and lots of muscle… Pyrrha had definitely done a good job in getting him in shape for a huntsman's life; as if the beat down she had just received from him wasn't proof enough. But that was more than just Pyrrha's tutelage that utterly wrecked her in that fight. It was that terrifying semblance of his.

She had been on the receiving end of his semblance twice now. It was as if she had been cursed to the point where whenever he went out of control, she _had_ to be the one in closest proximity went his semblance went off; and boy did it go off. Twice now, had anything been a little different, his sword would have turned her into skewered meat.

She sighed and readjusted her arms to regain grip on his body, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and neck, while she had hers around his. Hopefully, he would wake up soon and he'd be able to walk himself. Though she couldn't complain as she was getting the perfect opportunity to feel him up and an equally good excuse, should anyone ever catch her. She didn't want to explain to anyone why she was feeling up Jaune Arc of all people.

Everyone assumed from the way she had treated him before that she didn't want any part of him. That they were sworn enemies. But that certainly wasn't the case. They made up, with Jaune being the one to initiate the apology. She had been taken aback at first when he had called her scroll, asking to meet up on the roof. But she recovered from the initial shock and took his apology in stride; even to the point of apologizing herself for being rude to him.

Though half the insults she threw his way were far from the truth. Even she could admit that Jaune was an extremely good looking person.

Yes, Weiss Schnee found Jaune Arc of all people, attractive. A guaranteed side effect from being tall, blonde, blue eyed, and muscular. She certainly noticed the looks he'd get from the opposite gender – sometimes the same – whenever he'd walk by.

But don't be fooled, it stopped there. There wasn't anything beyond admitting that he was good looking. He was too much of a dork and a goofball for her to ever consider a romantic relationship with him. He was more like an older brother she never had. A really hot brother… with a lot of shoulder and back muscle, the hands on his body told her.

She stopped herself before her thoughts could go any further. He was Pyrrha's. For now, she'd have to settle with just holding his ridiculously heavy frame up. Maybe she would go the same route as Pyrrha and shape up her man as well.

It always surprised her how long it took for him to notice that one of the most beautiful young girls on Remnant had fallen for him. Almost everyone could see the way Pyrrha looked at him, the way she acted like a completely different person around him. Everyone in their friend group knew she was head-over-heels for him. Everyone except for him.

But something happened along the way and he sought her out for relationship advice. _Her_ of all people.

She had to provide him with knowledge on relationships that she herself didn't have to begin with. It ultimately boiled down to being himself, as that's what she and most other girls liked in guys. Not trying to be someone else to win them over; but just being honest and true. It's the reason Pyrrha started liking him anyways; because he was himself.

In a way, Weiss was envious of him. She wanted someone that looked at her the way Pyrrha looked at him. There was Neptune… but the deep rooted love and affection wasn't there. It was more of a physical attraction than an emotional one.

'Pyrrha is one lucky girl,' the thought went through her head as she craned her neck to look _up_ at him. She saw his eyes squint, a sure sign that he was waking up.

He groaned and his eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the light. They were red.

The first thing he saw was a pair of ice blue eyes staring down at him. There was this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that screamed danger when he saw those icy eyes. His instincts died down when he saw who they belonged to, his eyes returning back to their original blue state.

"Where…?" He tried to speak more but he couldn't find the strength in his voice right now. Weiss understood enough and answered him.

"I was carrying you to the infirmary," she said and released her hold on, slightly reluctantly. He was capable of walking himself now, her arms would be grateful for the much needed break.

"Aww, did I lose that badly?" He groaned and ran both his hands through his hair, wobbling slightly as he balanced himself. She still had a hand on his back to help him balance.

"Uhh… not exactly," she said. "I'll tell you everything as we walk." She pushed him slightly, signalling him to start moving.

He took a shaky step forward, and then another. His body quickly got used to being conscious again as each step he took became less and less strained. She took her hand off of his back when he seemed to be fine walking on his own. "Yeah, so what happened? The last thing I remember is coming up with an idea and clearing my mind. Next thing I know I woke up being carried by you."

"Well in the middle of the fight, you just stuck your sword in the ground and stopped moving for a few seconds." She paused to open the door leading into the infirmary wing and waited for him to go inside first.

"Thank you," he said and walked inside.

"No problem. Anyways, you stopped moving and then right as I was about to land my next attack, you went right back into the fight. Only this time, it was like you were a completely different person."

"A different person?"

"That's right, your stance, fighting style, everything changed. You just went off and I couldn't keep up. Your swordplay was something like I'd never seen bef-"

"Wait, I was beating you!?" He stumbled forward, taken aback by her words.

"As embarrassing as it is… Yes, it was completely one-sided." She averted her eyes, finding the floor very appealing all of a sudden.

"Haha awesome, I can't believe I actually won the fi-"

"You didn't win." She locked eyes with him. She was serious. His moment of celebration was cut short.

"Wait, you said it was one-sided, so then how…?" As if she could read his mind, she answered.

"Technically you were disqualified for using excessive force… You lost control and almost killed me." She knew what was coming next.

He stopped in his tracks and froze. "Wait what!?" He turned to her with wide, grey eyes. "Weiss I'm sorr-"

"Save it Arc," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Bu-" She didn't let him finish.

"No, I don't want to hear it. I knew the risks when I decided to become a huntress and when I stepped into that ring. It wasn't your fault anyways; you're still working on controlling your semblance." She sighed and stared him down. "And besides, even if you did send me to the hospital, I doubt you'd have trouble paying off my medical bills." She smirked at him. Obviously she could afford to pay her own, but so could he.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And why do you think that," he said in a low voice. His voice carried an edge to it.

She put her hands up in defense. "Woah calm down, I was just trying to lighten the mood. Also, let's just call it a hunch… your highness." She let out a laugh before it turned into a yelp as Jaune grabbed her shoulders.

"How. Do. You. Know." Red stared into ice.

"Relax Jaune, I'll tell you. Just let go of my shoulders." He calmed down and relaxed his grip. "As the heiress to the largest dust company on Remnant I usually had to accompany my father to meet with powerful people who I'd have to interact with when I take over the company. Two such people were your parents, Arthur and Guinevere Arc. Your mother is a very caring and beautiful person, Jaune. I'm happy to have met her. She treated me like another daughter."

He chuckled. "Well she already has 7 of those, so one more wouldn't hurt I suppose. But you're lucky you haven't seen her temper. Even my dad gets scared of her."

"What, really?" He'd seen that same look on everyone who he's told that to.

"Yeah, really. What, you think he doesn't get scared?" He scoffed. Everyone usually assumed he didn't, given his reputation.

"No, it's just that your father was…" She trailed off.

"Strong? Big? Intimidating?" He listed on.

"Intense," she said. "Its hard to even breathe when you're around him." Jaune knew exactly what she meant by that. More than anyone, he knew what it was like being around his father. Growing up, whenever his father scolded him – as all parents do – it became especially difficult to even look him in the eyes.

"He's also extremely good looking might I add," she said with a laugh. Jaune knew that as well. Many times, he noticed the looks his father would receive whenever they were in public, which always angered his mother; and an angry momma Arc was never a good thing.

"Oh believe me, I know. You won't believe the amount of times my mom caught someone back home eyeing him. Of course she'd always chew them out." She giggled as he ranted on about his parents back home. "But the same rarely ever happened to my mom."

"Well that sounds about right, not that your mother isn't very good looking either. But I bet being the emperor would mean that no one would try anything out of fear."

"Or respect."

"That too. From what I learned from talking to him; he's an extremely well versed and learned person. Something you've yet to develop," she teased and poked him in his side.

He flinched. He made sure to never let team RWBY know he was extremely ticklish, especially Yang. "Hey, you don't get to where he is over night. I'm getting there."

"Mmm sure, you've been progressing well physically, but your studies have still been lacking." She poked him at his side again, finding his reactions extremely entertaining.

"Believe me, they won't be lacking anymore." Everyone outside his team didn't know that his newfound ability to memorize everything seemed to be long term. "I reckon I'll even beat you on that test we had yesterday in Oobleck's class."

That got a reaction out of her. She guffawed and her face almost turned beat red. "You...? Beat me?" She found it difficult to speak.

He wouldn't be discouraged by her. "Yep, I'd even bet on it." What was with him and making bets with the women in his life? "Since I technically lost that match, I have a hot date with Pyrrha. I don't have any 'going out' clothes and I need to buy some. Problem is, I would like another female's opinion besides Nora's, and the more input I get, the better. So I'd like you and your team to come with me this weekend to Vale."

She collected herself and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "So let me get this straight, you want me and my team to go on a shopping trip with you so you can try on different outfits on which you'd like our opinion on?"

"Yeah pretty much."

"Talk about role reversal. It's usually the girl dragging along the guy shopping." She chuckled. "Alright Arc, I'll take you on that bet. Though convincing Ruby and Blake to waste a Saturday or Sunday to go shopping might not be so easy. It doesn't matter anyways since I'm not going to lose. I haven't decided what I want yet so I'll tell you when I decide. Deal?" She held out her hand.

He firmly grasped it and gave quick shake.

"Speaking of Oobleck's class, we have that next. We missed Professor Port's already. I'd like to not miss another class today. We can just 'say' you went to the infirmary," she said with air quotes.

He mock gasped, putting a hand to his heart. "Weiss Schnee, are you suggesting we lie to our professor?"

"It's hard to believe but I can be a rule breaker when it comes down to it. Plus, I think he'd have marked the tests by now and I'd like to determine who won this bet as soon as possible." She started walking back towards where the came, towards Beacon's lecture rooms. He followed after her. "And I believe we'll be starting a new topic today, and I'd prefer not to fall behind, wouldn't you, your majesty the-all-knowing-who-thinks-he-can-beat-me-on-a-test?" She laughed and lightly patted his cheek when he frowned. "Don't worry, you're still Jaune Arc to me, prince or no, I won't forget that buffoon that I met the day we came here."

"You laugh now, but wait until we get our tests back." He pouted. He'd show her, and wipe that stupid grin off her face. Oh how satisfying it would be. But in the off chance that he gets a lower grade than her he'd never hear the end of it. But there's a higher chance of him winning the lottery after getting hit by lightning than losing.

She doesn't know his little secret.

"Mhmm… By the way, it's about time you made the moves on Pyrrha. Took you long enough, poor girl's been waiting for months," she said giving me a congratulatory pat on the back.

"Oh, thanks. It still feels a bit surreal to be honest. Kind of unexpected how she got attached to me of all people." He rubbed the back of his head. It was very unexpected to him when he finally started picking up the subtle little hints that she'd been giving him. But to everyone else, it was like an aircraft marshal pointing towards her with those orange glow things. Completely obvious.

"It's funny. When we were having 'girl talk' she told us she started liking you because you treated her like anyone else; like a person before some sort of celebrity deity. But if only she knew." She giggled. "The guy she's dating makes her social status look like a participation medal in elementary school. It's ironic. Though I'll admit I was like one of the people she was trying to avoid." She remembered their first meeting and how she only wanted she only wanted Pyrrha on her team because of her reputation.

"I'm kind of glad none of you knew who I was when I came here. I guess me and Pyrrha are the same in that sense. My case is just a bit different."

"I knew who you were when you said your name was Arc. But that didn't stop me from disliking your behaviour."

"Touché."

"Speaking of which, if you wanted to hide who you were, why'd you use your given last name? It literally makes no sense to use the name of royalty when trying to remain a low profile. I mean heck, your name is literally in the name of the country."

"Uhh… would you believe me if I said that it slipped my mind?" He rubbed the back of his head, looking at her sheepishly.

"Actually, that makes it more believable."

"Hey!"

They lost track of time and before they knew it, they were at Oobleck's class. Weiss checked the time on her scroll and noticed they only had a minute left to spare. Everyone was already inside and the class was about to begin. They hurried inside.

"Ah, glad you could join us Ms. Schnee and Mr. Arc." Professor Oobleck was at the blackboard preparing to start the lesson. "And not a minute to spare. Please hurry and get to your seats so we can start the lesson. I already handed back yesterday's test papers to the class, you'll have to wait until after class to collect them."

They both nodded and made their way to their seats. The entire class was silent and both of them could feel all the eyes were on them. Some kept their distance from Jaune, flashes of fear appearing on their faces. No doubt they were there or heard what happened only a few hours ago.

'Great… Guess I'll have to get used to people keeping their distance from me from now on.' He thought.

Weiss had found her seat with her team. His team was a bit farther up, so he could enjoy a few more seconds of the walk up as the entire class bore holes into him. He walked up to where his team was sitting and found his seat, not before squeezing both Ren and Nora's shoulders, telling them that everything was fine. They both relaxed and slouched their shoulders they hadn't known were tensed up.

He sat down at the end of the aisle, beside Pyrrha. The girl never took her eyes off him the entire time. She jumped up in surprise when she felt his hand grab hers, his fingers intertwining with her own as he lightly rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "Everything's fine," he whispered to her. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and nodded. They didn't let go of their hands and kept them under the table as Oobleck started the lecture.

"Great, now that everyone's found their seats we can begin. Today as you all know; we will be starting a new topic. We recently covered the history of the four kingdoms; Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas. However, I'm sure you're all aware of the fifth. This fifth nation is just as significant as the four others we've covered; however, it is not part of the alliance created by the King of Vale at the end of The Great War. Instead, it remains as an independent, self-sustaining nation."

Pyrrha felt Jaune's palms begin to sweat and his hands shake slightly. She looked over and saw his face scrunched up, nervous, fearful. His eyes were light grey and she could see the fear in his eyes. But they weren't the eyes of someone who was in danger, instead it almost seemed they were the eyes of a child caught lying when their parents found the cookie jar to be empty.

She tried to calm him down, gently squeezing her hand and ghosting her thumb over the back of his hand. She didn't know what was bothering him, but she tried her best with calming him down. He relaxed a little, no longer sweating or breathing heavily. But his eyes hadn't changed, still full of fear.

He was a wreck on the inside. He could do nothing but hope that professor Oobleck did not mention the name Arc whatsoever. If that happened, his secret would be out for good and he did _not_ need that kind of attention right now. What would his team say if they found out he had been hiding something this big from them, or worse, what would Pyrrha say? He had to put his faith in Oobleck here.

If Oobleck came through this lecture, then he could talk to him after class and ask him to try and not explicitly state anything that would expose him. But the odds were already stacked against him. He'd have to just wait and hope.

"Does anyone know the name of nation that I'm referring to?" Oobleck stopped the lecture and asked the class.

Blake raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Belladonna?"

"Arcadia?"

"Yes, excellent! Arcadia. However, officially it's not considered a kingdom. Instead the full name is The Empire of Arcadia. Now, before we can learn of it's history, we must learn of the current state of the nation as well as what it has achieved since it's founding. First and foremost, does anyone know of any notable accomplishments of the empire?"

Weiss raised her hand this time. "Go ahead Ms. Schnee."

"Unlike the other nations of Remnant, Arcadia doesn't use dust as their primary energy source. It's the only place on Remnant that is able to sustain itself for a long period of time, should trade cease between the kingdoms."

"Excellent. Yes, it was relatively recently where the nation declared it would no longer use Dust as it's primary energy source, about 10 years ago I believe. Incidentally, that was about the time where the country began making leaps and bounds in technological innovation. Rumour has it, that they're working on a completely self-sustainable energy source. Dust, however efficient it may be, is still non-renewable. A breakthrough in self-sufficient energy would pave the way to Remnant's long term survival."

"Does anyone know any other interesting facts about Arcadia?" There was a long pause.

"They're the only nation that still has a monarch?" Ruby said out loud.

"Yes! Right you are Ms. Rose. Arcadia still uses a traditional monarchy as it's form of government, however the Emperor has an advisory council. The public votes representatives into the council so they have a say in how the country is run. But we'll save the topic on the current Monarch for later in this class, it's a special topic I'd like to address."

"But I'm looking for a particular accomplishment. It has nothing to do with science or politics. In fact, I'm thinking of a proud moment in history, when Arcadia was first founded."

Blake's eyes lit up, she knew what he was talking about. She raised her hand to answer.

"Yes Mr. Arc!"

Stunned, she looked back to see that Jaune had raised his hand. "It was the first nation on Remnant to abolish slavery, of both faunus and humans."

"Correct! Do you know why that was so?"

"Actually I didn't really clarify. The empire was founded because back then, one man – Julius – had enough of all the slavery in the world. He was a general of the now defunct kingdom of Mantle. In a nutshell, he rebelled and rallied everyone who agreed with his ideal, both human and faunus and left Mantle. He gathered people from every corner of Remnant that shared his ideal to settle down and create The Empire of Arcadia. However, Mantle and the other kingdoms didn't really like it when he took massive amounts of their population with him. So, a very bloody revolutionary war broke out between him and his people, and the rest of Remnant. Eventually, Arcadia came out victorious and gained independence. With the foundation of the country being that every person, whether human or faunus, is free.

'Libertas Perfundet Omnia Luce' is written on the Arcadian coat of arms, which means Freedom will flood all things with light… It's written in an ancient and now unspoken language." He flushed slightly when his accent changed to pronounce the words properly. Pyrrha squeezed his hand and gave him a smile that said job well done.

Hopefully Oobleck got the hint when he mentioned Julius. He hadn't explicitly stated Julius' last name and hoped Oobleck would catch on and not mention it either. Obviously he couldn't bank on it, but it was worth a shot.

"Yes, yes! Excellent Mr. Arc, I'd expect no less from you! Everything that Mr. Arc here said is correct. Julius certainly did fight the hard fight, but in the end – no matter how dark the state of affairs was during that time – mankind was rewarded with a bright future indeed."

Jaune's eyes lit up. He didn't mention his last name! He could practically hug the man right now. It seems he caught what Jaune was trying to put down.

It's not like he was ashamed of his lineage. On the contrary, he was extremely proud of who he was and his responsibilities. But he didn't want to start being treated differently by everyone he knew just because he was the heir to the throne. He'd rather just be a student right now, and royalty later.

"And that brings us back to current day Arcadia. Before we move on, there's two topics that I'd like to cover. Military and Biology. We'll start with military first. Now, as we discussed on the previous chapter, Atlas has the largest as well as the most technically advanced military of the four kingdoms. However, it does not keep that title when referring to all of Remnant. That title belongs to the Arcadian military."

"The size of the military mainly comes from a law in Arcadia that demands that when someone reaches the age of eighteen, that they must complete two years of military service. Now, this may seem unfair or borderline cruel but, you would get to pick what field you go into. Whether that be as a line cook, engineer, medic or infantry or whatever roles that they have."

"The current emperor has been quoted saying, 'The mandatory service time is there to prepare young adults to the harsh and unforgiving world of Remnant as well as adulthood. The two years they spend will teach them discipline and hard work while also exposing them to the harshness of Remnant. They will receive basic training on combat as well as how to survive when outside the safe zones of any kingdom. There would be very few deaths and casualties in this world if everyone was at least given basic training on how to defend themselves against Grimm and sadly, people.'" He read from a newspaper article that was on his desk.

"I will be assigning you all an essay topic on whether or not you agree with him. The details will be given tomorrow so need to worry right now, just keep in mind what I've read and your thoughts on the matter."

"Now onto the technologic side of their military. As I stated before, they're currently phasing out the need for dust in every aspect, which includes military. Now you're all probably thinking, how are they able to drive vehicles without dust propellant, or shoot guns without dust infused rounds? Well as for the vehicle part, Arcadia invented a new type of engine called the internal combustion engine. This engine works by creating tiny little explosions inside a chamber that pushes cylinders up and down which are connected to a rod. This up and down motion turns into rotating motion which can then turn wheels or in the case of planes, turbines. I'm just going over basics now, but more will be covered in depth later. However, this is a history class, not engineering, so I will only ever ask what and why. I will never ask specifically how some of these inventions work. That is outside the scope of this class and to be quite honest I'm not so sure myself." He chuckled to himself.

The class visibly relaxed as they let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. They weren't expecting all this technical jargon in history class of all places.

Of course, Jaune already knew all of what Oobleck said and more. Growing up around all the research and development departments and military complexes around his home exposed him to much of the technology. After years of being around it, he learned how everything worked to a tee.

Though his father had always preached on and on about the fuel source for a combustion engine still wasn't sustainable. He'd always say that there needed to be a way to get energy without stripping down Remnant of every resource it has to offer.

"But it's important to know the technology of a country to understand it's history. I'll skip the part about guns and weapons for now and discuss it in a later class for the interest of time." Jaune chuckled when he saw Ruby deflate at not being able to learn about new weapons.

"Now, we get into one of the most interesting phenomena that the world has seen in a long time. But first, I'd like to talk about aura. I'm sure you're aware of what aura is, and how it works fundamentally. However, through some recent studies, aura also helps in the growth process of young humans. Someone who unlocked their aura at a young age would have greater muscle density, height and other advantageous side effects compared to that of someone who has unlocked their aura in a later stage of life. However, unlocking aura at a young age is also a health risk. The internal forces generated from the unlocking of one's aura is immense and can often prove fatal the younger someone is."

Jaune knew where Oobleck was going with this.

"In fact, there is a one hundred percent fatality rate in humans _and_ faunus who unlock their aura before the age of seven. Moreover, if a woman unlocks their aura while pregnant, the fetus dies. We also know under severe trauma, the fetus can unlock its aura if it's in its fifth week of development when it's heart and brain have formed and blood has begun flowing. This is a sort of last resort defense mechanism. If this is ever the case, the shock is fatal and will kill the fetus as well as the mother. Now you're all wondering why aura is being discussed in history class rather than combat class. There is a very good reason for this."

"About forty-five or forty-six years ago there was an incident that defied all logic and science. It still baffles scientists to this day. A child was born whose aura was unlocked since it's heart first started beating in the fifth week of fetal development. Even to this day scientists still don't know exactly what happened. It was pure luck that the fetus survived, but even more surprisingly, so did the mother. It was through sheer force of will that she survived through the pregnancy and gave birth to a child that developed in the womb with it's aura aiding its growth; sadly, she didn't survive much longer after that. Because of this, the child grew up developing extraordinary capabilities which pushed the boundaries of what was even considered possible for a human. Extreme aura reserves and aura control. His bones, muscles, every part of his body grew with his aura adding to the process, allowing him to achieve feats that can only be replicated in our imagination."

"Now what does this have to do with Arcadia? Well it just so happens at the time, that the child was next in line to the Arcadian throne. Twenty-one years after his birth, he inherited the throne from his deceased father and is now the single most powerful person on Remnant. But that title is given to him before taking into account the fact that he has complete control of the largest military on Remnant. He has also been given the title of Caesar, something that only the greatest rulers of Arcadian history have been given."

Oobleck noticed all his student's eyes alight with interest and awe, well all except for one. "Of course, don't just take my word for it. The emperor will be coming to Vale for the Vytal festival this year, as is tradition. The winner of the Vytal Tournament will get the chance to fight the Caesar, Arthur Arc himself, in a one on one battle and test their mettle."

Jaune's breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened. Oobleck's eyes widened as well, the King's last name escaped his lips before he even realized.

Like clockwork, the entire class turned to him. His team and friends looking at him with wide eyes, not believing what they heard. The dead last of the class, the bumbling idiot that faked his way into beacon, was actually royalty. The secret was out.

He looked to Pyrrha who had now let go of his hand and was staring at him, mouth agape. 'Please… don't look at me like that. I'm still the same person.' He thought, trying to keep himself composed. His hands began to shake and his eyes darting around the room to everyone looking at him. He looked at the clock, only a minute left until class was over.

"Pyrrha, I… I…" He choked and couldn't find the correct words as he stared into those beautiful green eyes of hers. Shock written all over her face, he just couldn't muster up the courage to speak to her right now. How could he? He kept a secret as big as this from her… from his team. So as soon as the bell rang, he bolted it out of the room, not hearing Pyrrha call out his name.

* * *

 **A\N: Well there it is! I know 'Arcadia' is a bit of an overused name nowadays but I think it's a very fitting name considering a big portion of it is indeed Jaune's last name. I've had him being royalty in my mind throughout this entire story. But what I'm most excited about writing is his father, Arthur Arc. I'm sure you've all probably guessed by now but I'm going to loosely base him and his mother off the legend of King Arthur but also intertwining some Roman history as well, as you all noticed from the Latin. It's going to be very interesting writing about a country on Remnant that doesn't use dust and an Emperor who could probably level a country, but I have some very interesting things planned. So stay tuned!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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